Annual Report of the St Helens Youth Brass Band 2019-2020 

Musical Directors Report 

I write this report at a challenging time for our organisation and indeed all of our members. 

Since the last AGM we have still had a fantastic year and I continue to champion the excellent work of all of our members, hardworking committee and trustees. The standard of the band continues to improve and indeed we successfully attended a competition in January. Although we did not place as we would have liked, it was a fantastic achievement for the band and all tutors who worked with us on preparation commented on A bands excellent approach to the music and of course their fantastic attitude. We continue to enjoy strong links with our alumni, many of whom have continued to support us upon leaving for university and this year may well be welcomed back into the band for the National Youth Brass Band championships should they go ahead. A highlight of this year must be the socially distanced alumni recording of ‘The Saints’. I thank this year’s leaving players for their hard work and dedication and promise that their contribution to the life of the band will be celebrated when we can do that properly. 

We continue to encourage our members into local brass bands as well as national organisations. I am pleased to report that we retain two members in the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, but we also have a further two members now in the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain. This bodes well for the future; I encourage them to be ambassadors for our organisation and to encourage their peers. 

The main concert event of the year, which is always a highlight, was ‘Brass Explosion!’. I personally felt this may have been the highest standard all three bands had achieved in the most recent past with an ever increasing and appreciative audience in attendance. I commented afterwards it was the best Christmas concert we had performed over my tenure. 



In the new year it soon became clear our activities were to cease in order to guarantee our members safety and comply with all government guidelines. Initially are main concern was how to continue our activities to offer our young people a focus and social outlet during ‘lockdown’. A further concern was then our musical development and ultimately how the organisation could remain financially solvent with no concerts or carolling to provide income. 

I am indebted to our Chair, Suzanne, for her work on an Emergency Arts Council bid. Being granted the entire amount which we applied for has enabled us not just to survive but thrive. Our core aims were safeguarded, and we have been able to offer our young people more musical opportunity than ever. We have also been able to expand our reach further than our members and impact the wider community, embedding our work where it is needed most. This in turn has bolstered our membership. We have supported our existing relationship with our freelance tutors and perhaps most importantly have formed a brand-new band in ‘pBand’! We have offered: lessons, compositions, masterclasses, junk percussion sessions and more. There are far too many activities to list here. We are now more than a youth brass band and I look forward to continuing the expansion of our musical objectives. 

I welcome all of our new members at the start of their journey with us and hope it will be a long and fruitful experience. I also welcome our new relationship with the Three Saints Academy trust with whom we are offering a short-term project of group lessons. I hope many of these young people will also choose to join us. 

Finally, I would like to thank all the committee, parents and band members for their continued handwork and support. Particularly Suzanne, Colette, Amanda, Karen, Gareth and Jenny. I am proud to be associated with an organisation with volunteers who work as hard as ours. All are welcome at St Helens Youth Brass Band and we have a bright future ahead of us. I encourage us to look to a positive future moving forward with purpose and innovation to bring the life changing benefits of music to all. 

Jay Hall Musical Director St Helens Youth Brass Band 

Chairs Report 

What a first year as Chair of this organisation! I was delighted to take up this role, knowing both the legacy and the ambitious hopes for the future of the band. I had not foreseen what has become almost a paradox for the band. A time when the opportunity to be a band in the way we knew it became impossible and yet a time when being a band had more opportunity in many ways than we could have ever imagined. 

It is then, with genuine gratitude, that I add my thanks to all of our playing and supporting members of the band for everything everyone has done to stay so committed through this time. For the hours of work that have been offered, paid and unpaid, to the organisation from so many people. For the grace you have afforded us in the busiest of times, when we have wrangled with new technology and the pressures of life on time and organisation. For being 



so visibly excited to get as many of our young people as possible back playing last week. I am so sorry that we had no windows to open to let as many as possible listen in the carpark! 

As we move forward we now have a working model of how to do some band rehearsals in a covid-secure way. One thing that has become clear this year is that we have to make plans and be ready to change them at short notice. We expect therefore that the next few months will continue to have plans made and changed as local and national restrictions change. We are committed to getting back to as much live rehearsals whenever we can but we will prioritise the safety of our members and ensuring that those who cannot attend yet can still be part of the band. 

So as we close this year, which is a few months beyond the end of our financial year we are hopeful of a better year in 2021 and look forward to hopefully welcoming more new members and enjoying some great musical experiences together … with of course the biggest hope being a concert when it is possible. 

Suzanne Matthews Chair 

Treasurers Report 

This year, unfortunately, Karen Bate has taken the decision to resign from the post of Treasurer due to personal reasons. We want to offer our formal thanks to Karen for her work as treasurer before this. Karen has a long history and passion for brass banding and she enthusiastically entered into this role. 

We have made some significant improvements for the future to ensure that we have easily understandable financial records that are fully compliant with running a charity and being accountable to any grant making bodies. We opened a new bank account with Co-operative Banking as our previous bank could not move our account to one with any online functionality. The Co-operative bank has offered as a much more suitable online solution with over the counter banking available to us in any local post office. We have also moved our accounting to an online, cloud based accounting package and we have begun the use of cloud based google drive for band emails and document storage. This means that all of our records from September 2020 will now be electronic and available for the trustees to view and run reports at any time. We have also moved to, where possible, online and card transactions wherever possible going forward so that we can easily track our money. 

The pandemic has served, as for many charities, to throw into sharp relief the stress lines and vulnerabilities of our organisation. Our subscriptions do not in any way cover the essential running costs of the band. We have relied heavily on money made through fund raising events such as busking and concerts. We have seen this income disappear and do not expect to see it return to its previous levels for at least another 12-18 months. 

The attached 2019-2020 accounts summaries will show that we have a large amount of money in our account on 31/08/20. I need to draw your attention to this being largely due to the Arts Council Emergency Funding which has been strictly time limited. So this money will have been spent by the end of December, with no option to extend its use. 

We have also been fortunate to be awarded recently a grant from Jacks Supermarket of £400 towards new music and from Rainhill Rotary of £300 for equipment and £1500 from The John Laing Charitable Trust towards the purchase and storage of class sets of Pbuzzes to expand the work of the pBand and increase members to the organisation. 



We are incredibly grateful for every grant we receive and will be applying for more grants in 2021. However, most grants will pay for new projects or in some cases capital costs eg instruments. But very few will provide funding for covering the ongoing running costs of existing work. 

We hope to implement a reserves policy of holding at least a term of money in reserves to ensure the band can continue under any unforeseen circumstances ie c. £3-4000. As we know that busking and concerts will still be unknown quantities for the coming year we are also going to need some help in some general fundraising to ensure that the band finances remain healthy until such a point as we can get back to more normal operations. 

We will therefore continue to fundraise locally and apply for grants especially covid emergency grants until we are at a time when we have secure income that more than covers our outgoings. 



We are reluctant to increase the cost of subs again next year as we are committed to making the band as affordable as possible for everyone. Therefore the more members we have the better our stable financial base will become so please do spread the word as much as you can that it is now possible to join the band from the age of 4. The pBuzz course will remain free and therefore only a £15 pBuzz is needed for a young child to begin learning and then join the pBand. Could you think of someone you could gift this to for a birthday present perhaps? 

The financial position we are in is much healthier due to the arts council grant, but we have some work to do in the next year to keep this trajectory positive. 

## Suzanne Matthews 

Chair 

Elections 

The following people have offered to stand for roles this coming year and have been duly nominated and seconded. 

|Chair|Suzanne Matthews||
|---|---|---|
|Secretary|Amanda O’Hanlon||
|Treasurer|Gareth Evans||
|Committee|Gareth O’Hanlon|Safeguarding Lead|
||Helen Melling|Deputy Safeguarding Lead|
||Jenny Marsh|Music Librarian|
||Helen Tickle|Instrument Librarian|
||Colette Wilson||
||Ruth Breen||
||Guy Francis||





## **Profit and Loss** 

## St Helens Youth Brass Band 

## For the year ended 31 August 2020 

|**Account**|**2020**|
|---|---|
|**Turnover**||
|100 Club|716.00|
|Brass Explosion|2,006.00|
|Busking|5,295.79|
|Fundraising|278.94|
|General Donations|2,888.89|
|Instrument Hire|115.13|
|Just Giving|1,190.48|
|Membership and Subscription Fees|3,587.78|
|Tuck Shop|535.91|
|Uniforms|(87.00)|
|Arts Council Grant (restricted funds)|31,343.00|
|**Total Turnover**|**47,870.92**|
|**Cost of Sales**||
|Conductor Fees|6,793.70|
|Music|144.30|
|**Total Cost of Sales**|**6,938.00**|
|**Gross Profit**|**40,932.92**|



## **Administrative Costs** 

|**Administrative Costs**||
|---|---|
|Cleaning|0.79|
|Competition Fees|150.00|
|General Expenses|79.44|
|IT Software and Consumables|122.19|
|Postage, Freight & Courier|7.32|
|Printing & Stationery|600.53|
|Rent|2,614.97|
|Staff Training|150.00|
|Subscriptions|109.53|
|Telephone & Internet|60.00|
|Arts Council Grant (restricted funds spending)|16,172.75|
|**Total Administrative Costs**|**20,067.52**|
|**Operating Profit**|**20,865.40**|
|||
|**Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation**|**20,865.40**|
|||
|**Profit after Taxation**|**20,865.40**|





CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trustgesl
members of
St Helens Youth Brass Band
On accounts for the year
ended
2020
Charlty no
(If any)
1009301
Set out on pagos
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity ("the Trusf} for the year ended 3110812019.
Responslbllitles and As th8 charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act
2011 {"the Act").
I report In respect of my examinatlon of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed the applieAble Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5}(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm Ihat no material matters have
come to my altention (other than that disclosed below "} in connectlon with
the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect".
accounting words were not kept in a¢cordance with section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached.
Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Date:
Independent
examiner's statement
Slgned:
2S
2021
Name:
SAtsH
Relevant professlonal
qualiflcation(s) or body
(if any)-.
Address:
22 bj OLÉ &£OVE
JAIO
IER
October 2018

Section B
Disclosure
Only cotnplete if the examiner
Independent examination of c
examiners).
eeds to highlight matters of concern (see CC32.
arity accounts.. direclions and guidance for
Give here brlef detalls of
any Items that the
examiner wishes to
dlsclosè.
IER
October 2018